The Other India

In our country India, where several female Goddesses are revered with a sense of respect and fear, a huge section of the society still continues to be uneducated. A major segment of girls in the rural areas, more than 75% of the total women population in 6 out of 29 states of the subcontinent are denied their basic right to education, mainly in an attempt to hinder their insight to the outer world. Despite various campaigns by Government and Non-Government organizations in the past and present that aimed at social-awareness, the mentality of the rural population of India hasn’t undergone any complete change. The main reason for this injustice remains to be the open resistance by the old minds in the rural areas, to new ideologies, since any ideology which is not parallel to their mind set is seen as an insult and as an attempt to demean their culture. The spiritual books that are worshiped had not expressed any disapproval to girls being educated, but on the contrary has championed the...

The turning point - Part 2 At that time, Chandni did not even knew how to hold a pencil. But she tried hard and received her education, after enrolling into an open school program. When began her education , she was 10 and now she is pursuing her higher Secondary Education . This was the turning point for the young girl who went onto make Education of Street children the Mission of her life.   While serving for Badhte Kadam, she met her first challenge where she found a couple of children imprisoned after being accused of stealing. “I remembered the horror of the day I was in prison and went to the police station to get the children released. It was one of my proud moments and it was then when my life took a turn for the better.” She added. As Chandni’s motive was to serve for the underprivileged children she was determined she wanted to continue working for Badhte Kadam, as a result new education centers were opened, and more and more connected to these centers. Considering her ...

There is a saying “ It takes only one voice at the right pitch, to start an avalanche ”. Hers is a story about a girl from the slums who herself held a pencil at the age of 10 and now she is reshaping the life of many children who dare to dream and desire to fulfil them. This story must be told to everyone and this is a voice that must resonate ,so that children in the streets are taken care and are equipped to lead their lives better. It’s also Story of a past filled with suffering, a Present full of hope and endurance, and a Future that promises to be brighter than ever before. I am talking about Chandni Khan who was born in the slums of Noida, a place where several kids are born and die in oblivion. But she refused to lay back and make her peace with her grim destiny as she climbed out of the darkness and now she is extending her hands to pull others out of the same misery too. This girl started working from a very young age. “From the age of five, I used to travel along with my fa...

It's Chandni 's first time at KFC and she is positively happy about it. As she steps in, she loses some of the inferiority she felt before, when she used to believe that she can never enter a KFC. But today, she feels included and equal to all in the society. A long life, suppressed in poverty and feelings of inferiority can lead children to the concept of "Never dream for better skies". Life in poverty can be depressing and it is almost true.  Ashman foundation is a charitable trust working wholeheartedly towards empowering slum children and women from the society so that they can live with pride and respect. Chandni 's story is not just a single case, but a lot of children out there in the society face such inferiority complexes and are unable to dream for a better life. Ashman foundation reaches out to such sufferers and treats them the way they want to be treated and helps them to dream bigger and achieve bigger. A country like India requires hundreds of Ashma...

In 2014, Neel Ghose and a couple of his friends spent an evening distributing excess food that they had collected from local restaurants to the under privileged living under the Hauz Khas flyover in South Delhi. Four years later in 2018, that little act of kindness form Neel and friends laid the foundation of “The Robin Hood Army”, an organization entirely supported by volunteer work that used the act of food redistribution to bring out the simplest in humanity. By the start of 2019, the Robin Hood Army was present in twelve countries, was serving over 500,000 meals per month, and had helped around 750 children enroll in public schools. All of it without raising one rupee, in line with their “golden rule” of being a zero-funds organization. The Robinhood army is now a Harvard Case study: This case explores the challenges and opportunities related to fast growth and international expansion of a start-up organization that operates with no monetary assets. The discussion of this case offe...

I was 16 when I joined an NGO that gave education to underprivileged students. My very first day was in Dharavi - Mumbai. As my taxi went through the road deeper and inside the lanes of Dharavi, I could feel the Mumbai which is shown in movies and which is written in books is gone far away. The place I was in was full of life. It looked like the scene where ants are working together in places everywhere. Every house had ladders and life built upon life, families lived upon families. I was directed to a room where I was supposed to teach the kids. I passed door after door. Doors that were open wide. Houses had women working on sewing machines, creaking table fans, swings made of saree for just born kids, piles of vessels filled with water and small photographs on the walls with garland on them. In the rooms of 10*10 square feet, people created homes. The room I entered had no roof. Walls were broken. It had a black board and a chair. One hour went by, nobody showed up. Just when I was...

Pursuit of Happiness What is it that gives you joy? For some its power, while others say its pride. For some, it’s money while for some, its wisdom. But for the people of Basanti slum, S urvival made them happy. The Dual Disaster Basanti slum, Kolkata , the city of joy had been home to approximately 6625 according to 2011 census but this was in 2019 and people around the globe were struggling with Covid-19. But for the people of the slum, another disaster was in line. It was when Amphan hit. This dual disaster shook West Bengal and Orissa to its core but the severely affected were the slums. The Fateful Survival “Wind blowing at a speed of 115km/h blew off the houses made of vinyl sheets, scarp, tarpaulin and cardboards leaving just the skeletal roof. The cyclone left the narrow streets clogged with filth, fallen trees and broken electric wires. Amidst the howling winds and incessant rainfalls, those who survived considered themselves to be lucky. Hunger and fear started t...

    It is rightly said, if you want to know the real side of a country don’t look at their urban or developed area but have a look at their slums, that’s where the reality lies.   A slum shows the true picture of every country. In India, according to census 2011, nearly 17% of the urban households live in slums, which was around 23.5% in 2001. Although the percentage has gone down but the number of households living in slums have gone up from 10.5 million in 2001 to 13.75 million in 2011. Let’s have a look at the reasons for growing slums in India. First and foremost being the forever growing population of the country. India is the second most populated country in the world and soon it is going to overtake china. The problem with growing population is the lack of equally growing employment opportunity. People in search of better earning opportunity move towards the bigger cities and towns and are trapped there with low earnings and high living costs and the lack of avai...

  What is the first thing that comes to our mind when we think about slums? Do we know what deplorable health and environmental conditions exist in slums? Every now and then we come across news that reports eviction of slum dwellers due to encroachment? Their houses are demolished and asked to leave. Do we ever wonder where would they go after getting evicted? They just get settled in another government or private land only to get evicted again just when they think that they have a home now. The cycle just keeps occurring again and again. Why aren't we able to solve this problem and help them to give a sense of belonging? Slums are the other India that we should focus on. Ok, let's understand the cycle first before thinking about a plausible solution. Due to rapid urbanization more and more people come to cities with a dream to improve their lives. They get settled on lands that are open and unclaimed what we call slums. These slums have people who work as daily wagers, dr...

  The Gully Boys: Naved Shaikh or Naezy is the torchbearer of Indian rap from Mumbai. He was born and bought up in a Ram Bachan Chawl in Mumbai. Coming from a lower middle class family and living in impoverished living conditions, Naved’s rise to success was through his unique music - rapping. Naezy got interested in hip-hop when he heard Sean Paul's 'Temperature' playing at a wedding in his society. His music concentrated on the struggles faced by himself and others. He made his Bollywood debut in the movie “Hey Bro” with the song ‘Birju’ that starred superstars like Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, and many more. His inspirations were Seal Paul, Lil Wayne etc. His single debut was done through “Aafat” in 2014 and the video garnered many views making it viral.  “I come from an orthodox Muslim family and I grew up in Kurla, a Mumbai neighbourhood known for all things bad. Growing up, no one wanted me to pursue rap as a career. There were a lot of problems, lo...

  “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." – Henry Ford Prathamesh Hirve, Scientist, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) never took his eyes from his goal despite it all. His hard work, self-belief and determination helped him realize his dreams. Hirve completed his engineering from Smt Indira Gandhi College of Engineering in Navi Mumbai and has also interned in companies like TATA steel and L&T. Getting selected for a Diploma was the initial step to his achieving his dream.   But his journey to success was not an easy one. When he attended a career guidance session, he was told to choose a stream different from science as he may not have aptitude for it. Coming from a Marathi medium school, he faced difficulty in understanding the technical terms and concepts in English when suddenly exposed to them while pursuing diploma. Many advised him that engineering wasn’t his cup of tea and it required immense talent. Living in ...

“Don’t need to ask. If you ask, they will say no. Just make a picture.” This is what Nils Heininger's companion said two years ago when both of them were exploring one of the lesser known shantytowns of the country. Today I happened to read an article written by Nils Heininger who is a photographer, traveller and Anthropology student whose area of focus is Culture of India .As a part of this, he had travelled across the country and lived his life with different communities including the Balmiki Community, a well-known minority group of India. But what captured my attention was his passion towards photography and views on Photo Journalism.  The article started off with his entry to the world of Travel Photography. According to him, 'Travel Photography' is an overused western term which basically means that a foreigner exploring a place and capturing pictures of exotic people , but Nils's version for the same is entirely different and for him the concept of Travel Photog...

The Hollywood Colony , Life of a Timekeeper :   The neighbours came in all the time and it was only joy I could see everywhere. The whole community was very friendly, they even have their own football team and cricket team. Meanwhile the house owner offered me the second tea of the afternoon, it tasted exactly like the first one, so delicious and I believe it was purchased from the same place which I had previously. Mr Mohan sells watches in the streets of ‘ Karnavati ’ for his living. He showed me the beautiful watch collection he puts up for sale every day. It was all well arranged on an 8-grilled stand made of steel. The watches were of different colour, shape, size and price. That display of watches were without a doubt a candy to my eyes. Mohan’s mode of business was to get money in advance from a local financer to fund himself for purchasing the watch and he sells them for a higher margin and keeps the profit. He receives approximately a margin of Rs 50-200 on each watch he s...

      The Hollywood Colony - A Memory :  One fine noon post lunch I took my go pro and started into the streets of Ahmedabad. The sun was soaring up high over my head. Camels were resting on the either side of the roads and I could see a couple of tea shops here and there .My throat had dried up and my goal for the day was still not accomplished. It was to visit a home in a slum from one of those streets. Grabbing my slippers from the backpack I kept moving forward until I reached the streets of the famous Hollywood Colony, one of  Ahmedabad’s famous slum. Still unsure how that place got such a name , but it is believed that it came from the inspirational works of a photographer named ' Kannagi Khanna'  who framed a woman from this village as a movie actress. I sauntered through the narrow walk ways of the Hollywood colony where houses and small businesses occupy two sides of the cluttered path. One thing that amazed me (Which we do not get to see in most...

The Past, Present and Future :  Slums in the Indian context is a place that came as a part of colonial invention, that sprouted from the leftovers of the dirt and stench at the backdrop of its flamboyant towns and cities. The advent of industrial revolution brought about a paradigm shift in the world by eventually reducing the grip of agricultural activities in the socio-economic realm. The destruction of the rural industries and agriculture by virtue of the innumerable British policies, and persuaded by the false prospects of better employment and livelihood in the industrial establishments of colonial India, forced the rural poor, burdened by famine and deprived of livelihood , to migrate in large numbers to towns and cities . This migration that remained consistent and increasing since its inception led to the formation of slums, that accommodate large number of population in the small discrete pockets spread at indiscrete parts of cities and towns where people subsist on mini...

   Mission Dharavi : An Example for the whole world A slum made miracle! There is no better phrase to describe. A collective effort from the NGOs, medical team, paramedical team, engineering team, private practitioners and the people of Dharavi pulled the rabbit out of the hat.Covid19 curve flattened in a matter of weeks where it was expected to spread like wildfire. Dharavi is undoubtedly one of the biggest slums Asia has seen so far. Extending her hands she stretches up to 2.5sqkm of area which is a home for more than 9 Lakh Indians. Without proper hygiene, toilet facilities, 10x10 hutments, high population and unclean environment unlike any other this place will give scare to an average Indian. Adding to this most of the people from Dharavi are working in essential services like hospital nurses, ward boys, food delivery workers. With these conditions present in Dharavi, Social distancing and home quarantine becomes unimaginable.  Regardless this limitations Dharavi bol...

A Journey through the Ghettos of India:   “The world doesn’t look like what you think it looks like”. Politics, Bollywood, Cricket.. All are still buzzwords that create rhythm to the Indian population. But there is much more to explore, An India that is way far from the glitter and glamour, a country that has untold stories to tell, a nation that saw its people emerging from rags and going to riches. Here in ‘The Other India' , we have such stories to narrate, tales of places and people who fought against all odds of squalor and aspired for a better life. So join with us in the journey to discover tales of each and every shantytowns of the country.  -Lakshmi